After months of development and testing, UNICORN was launched on June 21st, 2014 at 9am CDT. The goal of the mission was to put the fate of the badge in the hands of our Agents, using UNICORN to maneuver the vehicle through the Magic Castle (aka Best Buy’s corporate headquarters) and to one of three rendezvous points that would determine the fate of the Agent’s badge.

Does your computer feel slower than it used to be? Does it take longer to start up or for programs to load? If so, chances are your computer has accumulated some “digital dust” and needs a little spring cleaning.

Anyone who has called upon Geek Squad to help them out of a tech jam probably noticed the badge our Agent had clipped to his or her belt. In front. On the Agent’s left side.

What most people don’t know is there is set of principles and standards surrounding the way an Agent handles their badge. For instance, according to tradition, an Agent is required to carry their badge at all times. And Agents “may not use your badge to obtain free donuts more than once a month.” The badge is a symbol of being a member of an elite band of technology warriors and Agents, as a group, take them very seriously.

A banana-powered piano? A video game controlled by a couple of watermelons? No, this is not the aftermath of a collision between a fruit cart and a Geekmobile. They are tools our Agents use to get young people excited about technology at our Geek Squad Academy camps.

For many, the most important thing on their computer is their data. Whether it’s photos of family events, small business financial records or a music library, your data is usually more valuable than any other files or software on your computer.

In honor of Geek Squad’s 20th birthday, Commissioner Chris Askew, a number of Agents from across the country and a couple of Best Buy Blueshirts rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on Monday, July 14.

One of the personality traits we look for in Agents is a certain amount humility. Oh, we can overlook a bit of trash-talking when it comes to video game battles, but we have always felt it important that Agents don’t get too full of themselves. Which isn’t easy, considering all the technological disasters we help client address. But trying to stay out on the bleeding edge of this ever-changing field is enough to keep any technologist humble.

In the United States, the vast majority of adults drive cars. But most of us don’t really know how they work. Sure, we know to fill it with gas occasionally and how to operate them, but when it comes down to how the engine engages the drivetrain, most of us are at a loss. (That’s why we all have mechanics, right?)

The web can be a dangerous place for computer users and sometimes the latest news can be scary — much as is the case with the recent news around the recently discovered “HeartBleed” security bug in OpenSSL, a common form of encryption on many websites today.

Last week we published an blog post about how to avoid being a victim of a phishising scam. We hope you took a minute to read it. Although some think the identity theft that happens on the Internet is techie wizardry, nearly all of it can be thrwarted by just being a little more aware of what you’re doing when you’re out on the big bad Web. Skepticism is always the best first line of defense against cyber criminals.

If experience has taught us anything, it’s that computer-related scammers are persistent. By the time law enforcement catches on and alerts the public, the con-artists are already on to their latest scheme to separate you from your hard-earned cash.

It’s that time of the year again – time to take a good hard look at yourself and resolve to be better next year. And yes, time for magazines, TV news shows and blogs to suggest a New Year’s resolution for you. Yeah, irritating, we know. But this is one you should pay attention too. It’s not that hard and could save you a lot of grief when the inevitable happens.

Getting a new phone is fun. Whether you bought it for yourself or it was given to you by a loved one, firing up a new handset is one of the true joys of our wireless world. At some point, all phones seem restrictive after you use them for a while. A brand new phone frees you to get some new wallpapers, better ringtones and those cool apps your old device couldn’t handle. Then, of course, there is the wonderful new phone smell…

So, you’ve done it again. You waited until the eleventh hour to take care of those hard gift decisions. Yeah, you figured something would jump out of some TV or online ad, it would be the perfect thing and your problems would be solved. No such luck.

As the holiday shopping season ramps up, a lot of us are on the lookout for good deals on gifts for family and friends. With all the shopping available online these days, maximizing your gift budget is as easy as firing up your smartphone and hitting your favorite shopping site.

OK, I know. You’re probably saying “not another post from some obsessive-compulsive techie on how a clean computer is a happy computer.” And yet here we are. Why? Because while it’s been said many times before, it’s still just as true. Well tended devices and accessories last longer.

Each time I return from getting my teeth cleaned, I swear it will be different this time: I’ll develop better dental health habits – brush after every meal, floss at least once a day – in order to avoid the uncomfortable gum scraping (and guilt-inducing “tsk-tsk”) from my hygienist.

Touchscreens are the input device of today. They’re everywhere – ATMs, gas pumps, desktops and (of course) our pockets. The touchscreen is an intuitive, elegant and effective interface whose usefulness in the modern information society is shown by its prevalence in the world around us.

Sharing your living space with our four-legged friends can be tough on your tech. Maybe it’s their lack of opposable thumbs or limited understanding of the alphabet, but it seems to me that my cat just doesn’t understand why I spend so much time at my desk staring at screens. (I should be petting them, after all.) Flop around on my keyboard, chewing on the antennae of my wireless router, or attacking my printer every time I print something out.

With the explosion of social media outlets over the last decade, we seem to be spending more and more of our lives online. Social platforms make it easy and fun to stay connected with friends and family, share the latest cute picture of your cats playing with a ball of twine or check in from your new favorite restaurant. Mobile technology means that you don’t ever have to disconnect from your online network. If you’ve spent any time with teenagers lately, you realize some of them never do.

As most PC users (and readers of this blog) know, Microsoft released an update to their Windows operating system last November. The new version of the market-leading OS marked a significant departure from the old way of doing things, employing a less hierarchical organization and touch-friendly interfaces instead of the mouse-and-keyboard /point-and-click world of the past.

The digital age has revolutionized everything around us — including cooking dinner. Whether you’re a novice in the kitchen or a skilled chef, there are a number of smartphone apps, online resources and gadgets that can make your time in the kitchen much less frantic, and much more productive and fun.

I was raised to believe you could do anything you wanted with effort, time and persistence. It didn’t matter if you were a girl. It is the dream of every child to play in the dirt. We geologists get to do it for real. We don’t explore places; we explore time, way back in the past. It’s written in the rocks.-Adriana Ocampo

In 1926, Robert H. Goddard launched the first liquid propellant rocket. In 1957, the Russians launched Sputnik 1, the first satellite in space. In 1969, the Americans put a man on the moon. And on December 1, 2012, Geek Squad sent an Agent’s badge into low orbit.

So you splurged over the holidays and bought a brand-spanking-new laptop. Or you decided to pool all those gift cards and upgrade your home computing hardware. Let’s face it – you needed to put that old desktop that was still running Windows XP out to pasture. Feels better, doesn’t it?

Security experts have issued several warnings about security holes in recent versions of the Java software from Oracle. Java is used in web browsers across operating systems like Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X, and is primarily used by websites to display dynamic content on your browser and some downloadable applications.

It’s hard to believe that the light that we see twinkling down to us from our night sky is actually light that is thousands, millions, and billions of years old. When we look at the stars, we are looking at the past.

Ah, the holidays. Once more, we’ve entered that magical time of the year. A time for joy, a time for laughter, a time for sharing happy memories with families and good friends……and a time (it seems) when scammers come out of the woodwork to take advantage of people.Read more...

One of the cool things about Windows 8 is this: if you have the right hardware, you can kiss your mouse goodbye. The new Windows OS is specifically designed to take advantage of all the benefits of a Touch interface. While the OS still lets you use and keyboard and mouse if you wish, let’s take a look at how Windows 8 helps you use your Touch interface effectively.

In part one of our Holiday Light Show series, we showed you how to set one up using computer hardware with a light controller. In part two, we covered how to control it using specialized software. In our final segment, there are a few extra items to consider before settling down with a big bowl of candy for the trick-or-treaters to arrive.

Windows 8 is finally here — and everywhere you go, people are talking about it. Most electronic retailers are now carrying Windows 8 devices (laptop & tablets) pre-loaded & ready to use, and people are beginning to purchase them and take them home.

As you may have heard, this is a huge week for Microsoft. In an effort to integrate the mobile computing experience into its operating system, Microsoft is releasing the most comprehensive reworking of the Windows OS since it put out Windows 95 in, well, 1995.

In the first article on building your own computerized holiday light show, we discussed the specialized light controller and PC. In this article, we’ll talk about the technological glue that holds those devices together – the software. You will need two software tools (a sequencer and a scheduler) to create your display.

Ah… portable electronics — the joy of modern technology. The most appealing thing about touchscreen phones, notebooks, netbooks and tablets is their portability. We take them just about everywhere we go. We toss them in our backpacks, our purses, and our pockets. And sometimes… they pay the price.

While holidays may bring out our creative side, they also bring out our crazy side. Few things bring out both like holiday decorating. As a Geek Squad Agent I love to use technology, which in this case means one thing – a computer-controlled holiday light show. Here’s a break-down of how to to put together this year’s Halloween show.

If you get excited at the thought of new technology releases, you are probably keyed up for the release of the new Windows operating system on October 26. Windows 8 is the first major overhaul of Windows since the launch of Windows 95. I was lucky enough to go get a pre-release copy of the system and take it from me, it’s a big change. And change isn’t always a bad thing.

Wedding season is over and baby season is rapidly approaching. While diaper cakes are unique and a new parent can really never have enough bibs and binkies, choosing a baby shower gift that is unique and useful can be challenging. Here are five ideas for shower gifts that are sure to please any new mom (or dad).

Did you know that on average, college students pack on more than 10 lbs in their first year of school? Dorm food and irregular eating schedules seem to be the culprits behind this trend. As your student continues to settle in this school year, consider outfitting your college-bound kid with four fantastic tools to help them make healthy eating choices as they adjust to life away from home.

So you’re sitting there, innocently using your computer, when a window flashes on the screen, bearing the logo of the FBI. You’ve been locked out of your computer for breaking some not-too-specifically-identified copyright law. The solution on the screen? Pay a fine to the “FBI” to “unlock” your computer and use it again.

With international athletes converging on the UK this summer in their quest to be best, we’ve reached out “across the pond” to our fellow Geek Squad Agents in Great Britain to help us with a tech tip series for Americans attending the festivities in the UK. Read on!

With international athletes converging on the UK this summer in their quest to be best, we’ve reached out “across the pond” to our fellow Geek Squad Agents in Great Britain to help us with a tech tip series for Americans attending the festivities in the UK. Read on!

With international athletes converging on the UK this summer in their quest to be best, we’ve reached out “across the pond” to our fellow Geek Squad Agents in Great Britain to help us with a tech tip series for Americans attending the festivities in the UK. Read on!

With international athletes converging on the UK this summer in their quest to be best, we’ve reached out “across the pond” to our fellow Geek Squad Agents in Great Britain to help us with a tech tip series for Americans attending the festivities in the UK. Read on!

Not a lot in our lives these days is more personal than those cool slabs of connectivity in our pockets – our phones. No matter what systems power our devices – IOS or Android, RIM or Windows – we each make the device ours in countless ways by adding everything from apps to maps, from tunes to tweets. It’s how we talk to the world, how we listen, how we play – and how we work.

At forty community-based camps this summer, Geek Squad Agents volunteer to teach youth tech basics in a fun and inspirational way; five camps tailored for military bases as part of national Joining Forces initiative

May 25th has several holidays that Geek Squad Agents enjoy — including Geek Pride Day, Towel Day (Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy), the Glorious 25th of May (Discworld) and the anniversary of Star Wars’ release.

An important part of the life cycle of your electronic devices is ensuring that when the time comes, you dispose of them safely and properly. Modern electronics can have all kinds of dangerous and hazardous materials. Today, Agents Nicole and Ish give us tips and tricks to help you ensure you dispose of your devices safely.

Face the facts: filth is everywhere. We spend a significant amount of time in our ongoing battle against filthiness. Shower, scrub, soap (lather, rinse repeat) as we sluice the dirt away from floors, counters, dishes, and windows. Don’t our electronic devices deserve the same care and attention?

“Macs don’t get viruses.” A common thing we hear around the Geek Squad – and a common misconception. One that is playing out at this very moment, as a large portion of Mac users in the United States are at risk of being infected with the Mac Bot-Net infection.

If you’re anything like us, you probably use a lot of Google based services. Over the last few weeks, you may have noticed these services have been inundating you with notices about an upcoming change to their privacy policy. What does it all mean? Agent Morgan from the UK is here to help lay it all out.

iPods are awesome. Really, they are. Cutting-edge technology, bringing our favorite music and video to us at the touch of a button, any time we like. Which is why it sucks when they occasionally decide not to work.

Picture this: You wake up in the morning and turn on your computer to watch the latest news and check in with your friends (or catch up on the latest cat videos you may have missed). Instead of your nice welcome screen you are confronted by the dreaded Blue Screen of Death!

You may have seen pcAnywhere, Norton, and Symantec mentioned in the news lately. It appears that a group of hackers had stolen code from Symantec dating back to 2006 and the code in question was used on a couple of the company’s popular software titles.. We’re here to explain what all of this means to you.

Most users have passwords that are combinations of a family name, pet, or hobby paired with numbers from a PIN code, or birthday. Using familiar elements makes passwords easier to remember, but also much easier for hackers to guess, hack, and steal. Also, most passwords don’t get changed often enough; this makes it easier for users to become victims of identity theft.

Email spam has always been an ever-present problem since the dawn of the email age. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to minimize the risk to your inbox. Guest-Author Agent Stephens from Geek Squad UK discusses in today’s post how to identify, prevent, and deal with spam. Read his original blog post here.

TRENDNet, maker of several IP Cameras, recently discovered a vulnerability in several of their SecurView cameras that allowed for online access in real-time by hackers. Fortunately the company released a quick firmware update to resolve the issue.

It’s the time of year when football fanatics and non-sports fans alike come together for some highly anticipated entertainment, which provides the perfect opportunity to party. Whether your guests will be there to watch the intensity of the sport or to rate the never-before-seen commercials, Geek Squad makes it easy for you to tackle your party with these tech tips.

Have you ever had that sick feeling in your gut when you think you deleted a really important file and aren’t sure if you can get it back? Trust me – I’ve been there, and it is the worst. Since that fateful day, I learned to back up duplicates of all my data on external drives.

If your favorite website looks different on Wednesday, January 18th, it’s likely not an issue with your computer, smartphone or tablet. A number of well-known websites will be participating in partial “blackouts” throughout the day, or will be changing their access or features to include informational and awareness messages on the page itself.